7title: Décalcomanie
pairing: Dramione
notes: hm... I added the English translations of the song to each chapter, but the lyrics don't really match lolz.
Décalcomanie
You and I, we kiss, I feel good
I'm trusting myself with you, I feel you
This is a little dangerous dangerous dangerous
I think I'll cross a line
Draco doesn't know when exactly the plan began to unravel — perhaps it's when Bellatrix could no longer wait to break into the school and this happens the same night Dumbledore brought Potter to who knows where, or perhaps it's when Greyback joined the group as a surprise, or perhaps things were doomed to go wrong when Dumbledore decided from the get-go that Potter shouldn't be in on the plan, the plan where Snape must be the one to kill the old coot, because Potter sucks at Occlumency — but everything has gone terribly wrong.
He stares at the girl lying unconscious on the bed in front of him. Granger's been like that for the whole night, and her left arm is covered in bandages and bindings soaked in her blood — blood no different than his — no thanks to Potter and the spell the bloody idiot used. Where did Pothead even learn that kind of spell anyways? The way the magic moved, the way the spell lacerated Granger's arm, the way she bled out, the spell has to be dark magic, an obscure curse not even Lucius Malfoy uses.
But Draco hasn't been sitting at her bedside because he feels guilty about the spell and how everything went wrong. No, he's been sitting there waiting for her to wake up because the bloody Gryffindor goody two-shoes just had to jump between him and Potter, just had to be nicked on her wrist by the spell, and just had to be all noble and righteous when she didn't even know what the spell does.
"She'll be okay, Draco." His aunt, who's clearly not Bellatrix but certainly looks like Bellatrix, puts a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Andromeda Tonks née Black had been the obvious choice to house Draco after his death had been faked by Dumbledore — her Occlumency remains unrivaled, thanks to her and Draco's teacher. Draco and his aunt had shared a shudder when they instantly bonded over the way Bellatrix had taught them — she had been the same age as him when Bellatrix taught her.
"Are you talking about Granger or my mother?" he asks, not once prying his eyes away from the unconscious brunette.
"Both," Andromeda smiles softly. "Your mother has already replied, and like I thought, agrees with me that your father shouldn't know you're alive. Something about letting him haul himself over coals for his decisions and the consequences those decisions brought. And also because your father's Occlumency is practically nonexistent."
Draco lets out a half-hearted snort. He doesn't ask to see the short message. He, like everyone else, has no idea how to read the secret code his mother and his aunt had created — it had been a code they made after Bellatrix had left for Hogwarts and when their 'pureblood education' had begun to 'increase in cruelty'. Draco doesn't plan on asking his aunt to elaborate on the words she said using air quotes, he doesn't want to know either.
"Don't blame yourself too much for what happened," his aunt tells him, squeezing his shoulder. "Gryffindors always do what they think is right. What happened to your little girlfriend wasn't, and isn't, your fault."
"She's not my girlfriend," he snaps, his cheeks warming.
But his aunt just laughs off his denial, waving her hand dismissively, before kissing his cheek and leaving the room.
Alone with his thoughts, Draco can't help but do the complete opposite of what his aunt advised. How could he not blame himself for what happened? Even if Granger wasn't only helping him because it was the right thing to do, he can't help but wonder what would have happened if he hadn't poured out his heart to her that day in the boys' bathroom. There's a lot of what ifs he knows he shouldn't be dwelling on, but he knows for certain that, if he hadn't involved her, she wouldn't be lying there unconscious and wouldn't still have blood trickling down her arm, waiting for Snape to return to finish the counter spell.
He doesn't know when he reaches out to hold her hand, the one with dried blood and a peek of the scar the Sectumsempra would leave her, but he rubs tiny circles into her skin. Her arm's probably numb from all the blood loss, he reasons. He thinks for a moment that her finger twitches under his little massage, but he's probably imagining it. She lost a lot of blood. It'd be a miracle if she woke up tonight.
Still, it's a miracle he's hoping for when he kisses her hand in a prayer. She's not his girlfriend, but surely, she's his friend. She at least deserves that after saving his life.
"Draco Malfoy kissing a mudblood, I never thought I'd live to see that." Her eyes are hooded, but at least she's awake now. A miracle. Thank Merlin.
"Don't call yourself that." His words don't have any bite, his relief overpowering any other emotion. "What were you thinking?" he asks. "Were you even thinking? You could've died."
"But I didn't," she manages to copy his one-sided smirk — she's been spending too much time with him.
"Bloody Gryffindor..."
She shrugs, or at least tries to. She winces halfway through her shrug, her left arm still hurting from Potter's spell. Draco's guilt doubles when her face wrinkles in pain.
"Well," she says, ignoring the pain, "you'll have to get used to us Gryffindors. I imagine you're going to be spending a lot of time with the Golden Trio after the summer." She manages to get him to smile, using the nickname he uses for her and her two friends.
He rolls his eyes. "That is, if Potter and Weasel don't kill me on the wild goose chase."
She smiles at his joke, but when her laugh dies down, she has that serious look in her eyes that Draco's realized she only gets when she's about to tell him something he won't like to hear. "Can you do something for me?"
He nods, not trusting his voice. After what she's done for him — after she listened to him, after all her help fixing the vanishing cabinet, after she didn't abandon him, after she saved his life, after how she brought some semblance of happiness back into his life — how could he say no? His guilt is practically making him jump at the chance to repay her. He doesn't realize his fingers have intertwined with hers.
"I need you to teach Harry Occlumency before the summer's up and we start hunting down the Horcruxes." That serious look of hers shuts down any of his protests. "Harry needs to know everything."
ending notes: and that's it of this chapter! Honestly, I feel like the story's going to be serious chapter, light-hearted chapter, serious chapter. So, I hope you guys don't mind the emotional rollercoaster! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you guys next week!